School district makes good call

During the unusually harsh winter weather we’ve endured during the past two months, officials at Vandalia Community Unit School District were right to err on the side of caution when determining whether to cancel school.
Nobody wants to put our children in peril by holding school when buses and other vehicles can’t safely navigate area roads.
But so far this year, we’ve had 10 snow days – more than double the norm. And it’s time to pay the piper.
To do that, Superintendent Rich Well and the district board of education this week announced a plan to capture some of those lost instructional days. District students now will attend school on two holidays – Presidents Day (Feb. 21) and Casimir Pulaski Day (March 7) – and will hold full days of instruction on two days previously planned as half days (March 4 and April 1). On those half days, the district had scheduled teacher inservice training events in the afternoon.
In addition to reclaiming the days for general instruction purposes, Well said the district wanted to make certain that teachers had time to prepare students for standardized tests coming up in a few weeks.
“We want to give our students the best shot in those tests,” Well said, “and these days will help prepare them. This is the best thing for the kids educationally.”
He noted that by making up the days earlier in the semester, the students could prepare for the tests – the results of which are important to the district’s standing with state and federal education officials. In particular, the No Child Left Behind program, which uses the standardized test scores to determine if the schools are making adequate yearly progress.
Another notable element in the district’s plan is that the makeup days don’t change the dates of spring break (April 18-22) and graduation (May 21). Too many plans already have been made surrounding those dates.
Though few students relish the idea of more days in class, it’s the right thing to do. They got to play; now they pay.

db